Minister pledges closer land management

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Minh Quang has
reassured that the delayed issuance of land certificates to all
households nationwide will be resolved by the deadline at the end of
this year.

He made the pledge at an online question-and-answer
session in Hanoi on August 20 as part of the National Assembly’s
Standing Committee’s 20 th session.

Deputy Nguyen Thanh Thuy
from the central province of Binh Dinh claimed that legal
documents about land use rights lack unity, hindering the issuance of
certificates.

Le Viet Truong from the NA Committee for
National Defence and Security said the issuance of land use rights
certificates for defence and security purposes was very slow. He also
declared his doubts over the possibility that it would be completed on
time.

According to Quang’s report, the number of certificates
issued by the end of June stood at 36 million for 20.12 million
hectares, equivalent to 83.2 percent of the total land, and more than
3.5 million certificates for over 2.2 million hectares of land are on
the waiting list.

The report stated that these are located
across 18 provinces, some of which are struggling to find room in their
budget for the issuance process.

“We are also worried about
the speed of issuance. However, if localities do not do their job on
time then the ministry willalso fail to meet the deadline,” the minister
said.

Refering to the settlement of land-related legal cases, Quang said his ministry has dealt with 77 out of 528 cases.

Clarifying cases where the wrong issuance of licences in the field of
mineral exploitation mangement subsequently led to huge environmental
damage, he said 957 cases have been uncovered so far.

The
Government asked nine provinces to revoke wrong licences. 10 provinces
were requested to adjust planning while 11 other localities will
temporarily halt the issuance to areas without valid information about
mineral reserves, he said, adding that all violated provinces must
report the situation to the Government by November 30 at the latest.

Admiting that the State management in the environment field has
remained lax over the past time, with serious environmental pollution
caused by firms’ waste discharges, Minister Quang pledged to conduct
regular inspection in the time to come.

At the same time, more automatic environment monitoring stations will be installed and operate around the clock, he said.

He was also asked by NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to hand
over a list of localities discovered to have incorrectly issued
exploitation licences to the NA so that the deputies could increase
their supervision.

Concluding the session, NA Chairman Nguyen
Sinh Hung urged the ministry to tighten measures to protect the
country’s environment and its natural and mineral resources.-VNA